


Threads

by ClaireWhitmore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Death, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Love, M/M, MWPP, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-07
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-11 15:25:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireWhitmore/pseuds/ClaireWhitmore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's September 1st, 1976 and Lord Voldemort has most certainly risen.</p><p> James seems to have just learnt that life doesn't treat you fairly when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's advances means that you can't trust anyone, sometimes not even yourself. After a student at Hogwarts was attacked and hospitalized by an unknown attacker, Lily Evans soon learns that she needs to decipher the mysteries surrounding those closest to her.<br/>Though, trying to focus on helping the Wizarding World to fight the Darkest wizard of the century is tough when her whole year can't get enough of those odd teenage things. Like sex, dating and hatred.<br/>It's rather funny how often all of those things intertwine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Errands To Run And A Feast

This would be, first and foremost, a love story. That sentence is too overused; love and the consequences of the matter cannot be summarized like that. It simply cannot. To fall in love takes time, it breaks a man down and can build him up. It's the cause of wars; it's the solution to wars. It takes so much time-you could be dragging your feet across the ground, wondering when this strange and unfamiliar concept will happen to you. Then, out of nowhere, you'll find yourself drowning in it and struggling to get a gasp of air.

Some see it as a disease or an illness. Some resent it and even loathe being that vulnerable to another person, as their equal. Some will run for years from it, and then eventually give up in the very face of it and collapse; while others will be out till all sorts of hours looking for it.

But the sole purpose of being alive isn't to fall in love with some charming man; it's so much more than that. Of course, being in love is a side-effect of living, a by-product of being human, but the fact remains that being in love is only one side-effect, there are far more extras in life than just love.

However, it is inevitable that sooner or later the strange thing will catch onto you, too.

That's what James and Lily learnt, as did Remus and Sirius.

You can't run from it, however hard you may try, because love will always catch up. And when it does you'll be merely exhausted and more likely to give up.

Because, after all, there are far worse and better things in life to savour than just love.

They just didn't know it yet. None of them did.

I lied. This isn't really a love story at all.

 

Chapter One

"Errands To Run And A Feast"

September 1ST, 1975.

HOGWARTS EXPRESS

"Why're you so glad?" asked Mary, her face twisted between the gloom of not quite yet being the eldest year level at Hogwarts (or was it something completely different?) and a smirk of that was thanks to Lily fluttering her gaze momentarily from her book to James Potter as he –quite rowdily- made his way off the train and onto the platform.

"I'm just glad to be back," said Lily, her eyes now in a far off place where she dreamed of the wondrous year ahead, free of the burdens and troubles she dealt with back in Surrey. "This year will be different," she promised.

Not good or even better. Just different. That's just what Lily wished for most.

Difference.

Lily isn't unlike many other teenagers her age either.

They're in sixth year now, this meant a year free of those darn OWL examinations (something Lily could do without), but it was to also be a year without Lily's former closest and best friend, Severus Snape (someone she regretfully would and had to do without).

Lily shook her head, suggesting that merely thinking of him was outrageous and ridiculous.

He had hurt her: she knew that and he knew that. He was different now, and most certainly not the Severus she had known and practically loved. She had made too many excuses for him time and time again, and she knew that. She really did. She seemed to resent a little, though, the idea of never being able to laugh or talk with him like she used to.

They did have a good friendship, the sort that you could have easily had in fifty years from now and it still be as easy as it was when they were fifteen, fourteen, nine years old. The sort of friendship that those clichéd scrapbooks were filled with and based on. The ones with faded and sun stained pictures that are full of smiles. Friendships like that were half the reason living was as enjoyable as it was. It's a comforting thing to know that even if everything else in your life is falling apart like a soggy newspaper, you'll still have that one person you can rely on to talk to and to make you laugh.

But that was over now: he had ruined it all himself, and Lily just confirmed it.

Just keep calm Lily, keep a clear and strong face, and do not show mercy, whatever you do.

Mary laughed. "You sound like a protagonist in a really bad individually made film about a bunch of Muggles in high school."

"Oh, shut up." Lily rolled her eyes.

"This year will be different," mocked Mary teasingly. "I will kiss the darling of the school and be popular and have oh too many sleepovers and sneak out of my dorm and get up to all sorts of tomfoolery! Oh, dear Diary, I will be marvellous and extraordinary."

"I don't do that!"

"Yes, you do. I read your diary last year, in November. I know all the clichés you use in that thing," grinned Mary. "'And when his lips met mine it felt as if I were flying'? Really?"

"I was fourteen." Lily tried to find a half decent excuse. "Don't even get me started on what you were doing when you were fourteen." Lily muttered.

"I'm not ashamed of it. Friends with benefit relationships are awesome. We started on as friends, we fucked as friends and we broke up as friends." Mary's blonde curls bounced around the nape of her neck as she talked. "There really aren't any cons to that situation."

"I can think of a few. And you shagged Sirius Black for crying out loud. Sirius Black."

"Like I said; I'm not ashamed of it."

"You were fourteen!" whispered Lily in a horrified voice.

"Oh, don't mother me, Evans." Mary's face fell, suddenly the fact that her own mum had been killed by parading Death Eaters in the past summer resurfaced after drowning for an hour. She was only just being able to get up in the mornings in that empty house without crying before breakfast. After breakfast, however, was when each piece that she had so valiantly picked up and placed back in order fell back to the ground and when she let the tears roll down her cheeks once more.

A lump rose in both of the girls throats.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Lily was quite fond of Mrs MacDonald. "Dumbledore did say that you can just catch up later or do some work at home until you feel ready to come back."

"Nah." Mary tried to sound casual, trying to blanket over her welling tears. She was trying to sound as if she was talking about the weather. "Too many memories at home and she's never been to Hogwarts, being a Muggle and all, so it'll be easier." She reassured.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," she nodded. "We'd better get off the train, it stopped ages ago. We might have to go back to London." She always did a good job at changing the subject. That, and finding out gossip.

Both Lily and Mary cringed at the thought.

And, with no further notice, Lily plucked her cat, Morphus, from the upholstery. She gathered her shoulder bag, as did Mary, and they both hurriedly walked off the train, the Hogwarts uniform iconic black cloaks dancing at their heels, as they made their way onto the last remaining carriage.

DORMS

James was not going to the Welcoming Feast.

Sirius was not going to the Welcoming Feast.

They had other plans.

"We need to fix the map," James said, the self-appointed guardian of the Marauder's Map through the entire summer holidays. "It's not showing the third floor quite right, it's upside down and it keeps on playing up."

"What were you doing looking at the third floor in the holidays, oh Amateur Stalker?" Sirius whispered back.

"Just making sure that the thing wasn't broken after Peter sat on it on the train home, oh Snuck Out of Home," James said defensively.

"Sure sure, I see how you'd be worried for the Map, and I ran away, it would have worked if that woman didn't catch me." Sirius began to raise his voice. "Peter's arse is pretty big after all."

The 'woman' was Sirius's pretentious mother.

"Oi!" Peter yelped.

"Sorry mate didn't see you there." Sirius said sarcastically. "Seriously though Prongs, I doubt Worm's butt will ruin the Map. It's not that fragile."

"Well, regardless it's a bit messed up." James said. "We're going to skip dinner to fix it."

"I'm not." Remus said. "I'm a Prefect and I can't miss the Welcoming Feast, McGonagall will skin me if I did."

Darn Remus being a Prefect; it makes rule-breaking a tad harder in some respects. In other ways, it helped a little too much than one would expect. Teachers trust him a lot more now, and even encourage him to be around James and Sirius to try and be a good influence on them both.

In all there five years and soon to be six at Hogwarts, Remus has never been a good influence over James and Sirius. Or Peter.

Or any sort of influence for that matter.

"Sirius will," James decided. That was the perks of having a best friend- you're allowed (and usually right) to force them to do things. "Won't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Sirius said, a bit disheartened.

"What about me?" Peter said, longing to be a part of the plans.

"Er…" James met his eyes with Sirius's, whose facial expression highly suggested that Peter should be kept away from the Map for a long time after the sitting-on incident.

"It's really just a two person job, Pete," Sirius said. "If there were three, it would become overcrowded and stuff."

"Sirius, you're making it sound as if you have a problem against orgies," Remus shook his head.

"For the record I have nothing against orgies, you can quote me on that." Sirius grinned. "Speaking of, here comes MacDonald with-"

"-Lily Evans," James finished, sighing slightly. He ran his fingers through his hair several times and loosened his tie.

CARRIAGE TIME

"Oh, great," muttered Lily under her breath, and not even Mary, who was standing dumbfounded next to her, could hear, or she chose not to hear. One of them. "Just great."

"Your favourite person," said Mary, smiling at the extent of how much James Potter bothered Lily.

"Not a word," warned Lily. "James?"

"Yeah?" James said, indignant.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?"

"We do go to the same school," James said. "It's impossible to miss me."

"Because your ego takes up the majority of the spare room." Lily crossed her arms.

"Harsh words, Evans. Harsh words indeed." interjected Sirius. "Hey MacDonald," He winked.

"Hi Black."

Lily had no idea how those two managed to date –if you can call shagging in a broom cupboard a few times a week dating- and still call each other by their last name.

"What I meant was why are you on the last carriage? I saw you run off the train a good half hour ago."

"Checking me out, are we?" James raised his brow.

"You wish."

"How I do, Evans. How I do."

Lily frowned.

"Seriously though- " said Lily.

"No, Padfoot," silenced Remus, just as Sirius's face grew a smirk and opened his mouth.

"-how're you on this carriage?"

"Had to run some errands."

"You don't have any. You couldn't possibly have any." Lily said. "You're lazy and wealthy enough to pay anyone to do anything for you."

"Not true. We all had errands to run."

Peter nodded, confirming James's tale. Or –rather- lie.

"We had to go to Hogsmeade village," Sirius chortled.

"We had to go to Honeydukes and Zonko's. Peter had a thing on layby that he needed to collect, didn't you Peter?" Remus added.

"Sure did, Lily," Peter said and thus the topic was disbanded.

There was a mild uncomfortable silence for a few moments, as these things usually go between the Marauders and Lily, typically with Mary by her side.

Armed with her wand, Lily drew out the novel she didn't quite finish on the train and began reading from where she left off. She quite often rested in a good book whenever things became mildly unbearable. It gave her terrible skills to cope with problems she faced in real life, but it was a haven in which she could escape whenever and wherever she fancied.

….grabbing Sophie from the small of her back with his gentle hands, Jack drew her in so the lovers were almost able to hear the others heart beating rapidly between the little space between them and the few sheets of clothing.

"We did it," Sophie whispered excitedly. "We really did it."

"And now we can rest, my love, in absolute perfection-"

"-until forever ends."

Then their lips met and, for a few minutes, nothing else mattered or even seemed to exist. Hot breath tickled Sophie's neck, Jack's own breathe vaporous against the cool and crisp night air.

"I promise never to let you leave my sight," Sophie promised, her dark brown hair falling and rolling over her shoulders and filling the air with the scent of mint and roses.

"I will love you regardless," Jack pulled Sophie closer in.

And at that exact moment, those two love bound creatures were at bliss.

"Evans, you're crying," James pointed out.

"Am not," said a crimson Lily, brushing her hand against her cheek to inspect for tears. "Dammit. Shut it, Potter."

They were tears of happiness, she thinks. She hopes. It was more out of longing that she cried, even though her and Severus were never lovers, it seemed that they were able to be happy forever like Sophie and Jack.

Was it too much to ask to just want to have her old Sev back?

Lily honestly thought that was how it worked, you meet a guy, you fall in love and that's it. Nothing could be simpler.

She did not sign up for this other nonsense that came along with it all.

"Tissue?" offered Mary, presenting one to Lily.

"Thanks," she whispered.

The six teenagers were interrupted by Minerva McGonagall.

"Where on Earth have you been?" demanded McGonagall. "Miss Evans?"

McGonagall always turned to Lily, Remus or even Mary in situations like this, as if she couldn't trust any of the Marauders, apart from Remus, of course. Though, even Remus could sometimes be biased. Scratch that, he was biased to favour his friends most of the time.

Loyal, it could be called.

"Mary and I got held back at the train," Lily explained, patting Morphus absentmindedly. "Sorry, Professor."

"And you, Mr Lupin?" Her piercing eyes turned to Remus, who was known to be extremely bashful and hesitant in situations like this.

"Same as Lily and Mary," He said.

"Five house points will be taken off each of you, for being so careless, now get inside. You mustn't dawdle in these dark times." McGonagall shooed them all off the carriage. "I thought you could've all well of been dead," she muttered, though very much doubted whether anyone of the group heard.

FEAST

The sorting had already been long finished by the time Remus, Mary, Peter and Lily got to the large and imposing doors of the Great Hall. The air was warm and over flooded with the scent of roast lamb, gravy, pudding and an assortment of rich foods that were desperately longed for by the empty stomachs of the students. The quad took seats towards the back of the Gryffindor table to attract minimal attention to them- without the shelter of the ever confident Sirius and James, Remus and Peter felt vulnerable.

"…Let the feast begin," Dumbledore said in a clear and strong voice- it wasn't in the slightest condescending or pitiful. "I do recommend the mashed potato; it's rather sweet and buttery." Dumbledore added as he sat back down.

Dumbledore waved his hand, which created a ripple of highlights on his crimson robes, to a stranger that none of the students near Lily could recognise. He had a short black stubbly beard that was wildly unkempt to match his hair; this was topped off with dark grey eyes and a long nose that almost dipped into his wine when he took a drink from his goblet.

"New Defence teacher?" Remus asked into Lily's ear.

"Guess so." The man was now conversing with Dumbledore. His eyebrows were raised, surprised, perhaps.

"I know all about him!" gasped Mary.

Figures, thought Remus. Mary knows everything about everyone.

"Who is he?" asked Peter, eyeing off the new teacher.

"Marlene's dad," Mary said simply. "I saw him with Marlene when we went on holiday to Spain two years ago and I needed my school books so I went to this one shop- oh that doesn't matter- and they were there."

"How'd you know he wasn't her lover?" Lily tested as she filled her plate.

"She called him 'Dad'. Duh."

"I can't imagine Marlene would be happy about him being here," Remus said.

"I heard she slept with Scott Blakemore from Hufflepuff," Mary announced as if it were some scandalous thing, the Hufflepuff part.

"She's in seventh year, it's a wonder if she isn't having sex by that age, half of them are statistically," Remus said in between mouthfuls of steak.

"Where are James and Sirius?" asked Lily, suddenly noticing that they weren't at the table, or anywhere in the dining room, to be honest.

"Had stuff to do," Peter managed through a mouth full of gravy soaked potato.

"Errands to run," Remus said.

"Again?"

"Yep."

"Personally, Marlene's a bit of a snob." Mary wasn't listening to the other conversation Lily, Peter and Remus were having.

MARAUDER'S MAP MENDING

The Gryffindor common room was always at its best when it was like this. Empty. It was also at its prime when it was just after a round of school holidays, like this. It was completely deserted, in every single way; there was neither a hoot of an owl or the sound of a page being turned.

Coincidentally, it was a new leaf, a new year to start fresh. And boy did Sirius and James need that fresh start this year.

Between them, they had served almost two hundred detentions since their first week at Hogwarts where they had tripped Severus Snape up with a long piece of string that James and Sirius held at either end. Professor Slughorn caught them laughing themselves silly while Severus inspected his grazed knee, red, swollen and harsh looking. They were from there taken to Slughorn's office in the dungeons, where they were to come back after dinner that night to the same location to clean out the extensive collection of cauldrons he carried.

They couldn't feel their forearms for a week afterwards.

Despite that awful first brush with the consequences of trouble, detentions did not stop them one bit.

The little fear they already had of detentions was kindled again when teachers realized they would need to separate them in order to prevent them from talking and mucking about and defeating the whole point of detention in the first place.

That Christmas, however, Mr Potter sent his son the Potter's two-way mirror.

James and Sirius saw this newfound toy as a means of defeating the teachers - teachers unknown to the concept- straight in their own tracks. The small fire of fear that the boys had of detention had a large bucket of water thrown over it then and there.

Socially and (somehow, by some sort of miracle) despite their aversion to study, academically, they had excelled in every way and had gone from strength to strength since their first day five years ago on the first of September.

However, and as Mrs Potter had put it only a few days ago: 'James needs to realise that the universe does not revolve around himself and that if he wants anyone to take him seriously as a person he has to deflate his head.'.

Naturally, and with such harsh words full of sting coming from his mother, James took this on board.

However, after being one sort of person for so long, it's hard to go and suddenly chameleon your appearance and become a better person.

Sirius, being James's brother in every single way apart from being closely biologically related, was trying to follow James's footsteps and unsurprisingly, neither of the two boys were having much luck with the fresh concept of 'being good'.

"Nice save with the errands bit back there with Evans," Sirius congratulated.

"Thanks, Pads. Merlin, what's wrong with it?" James groaned as he looked down from the sun bleached sofa at the Map, which was sitting on the table.

The Marauder's Map's depiction of the third floor was displaying flashes of bright and vivid colours every several seconds. It was also directly upside down, including the lettering. It was most annoying and bothersome to James and Sirius.

"I've got no idea," Sirius shook his head. "Have you tried Reparo?"

"Yep."

"Scourgify?"

"Yep."

"This is beyond us," Sirius sighed, deflated.

"We need Remus," James suggested- actually it wasn't even a suggestion, it was a plea.

"Yep."

"Should we just go get some food?" James queried.

"We can go to the kitchens. There's always better stuff there," Sirius decided.

Getting up from their seats sluggishly, James picked up the map, stuffed it into the inside of his jumper for safe keeping and they both departed the Common Room.

TO THE CORRIDORS

Mary did not feel like eating anymore. Sad news did that to some people. In some people, once they've heard some awful news, they'll stuff their mouths and stomachs full of whatever edible food they can find. Mary, however, whilst going through something as awful as her mother's murder, barely ate.

Lily, the saint that she is, came around to Mary's aunt's house most days to make sure Mary at least had the minimum daily dietary requirement each day. Aunt Julie worked long hours in a prestigious and snotty bank in the very heart of London, meaning she was away for the best part of each day. This therefore made it even harder for Julie to keep a proper eye on Mary.

Lily was good to her. It was hard, hard to keep on going on like this. Most days, since the murder, Mary just felt like falling into nothing. Most days she did do just that.

She walks in a haze, as if she is living in a small glass dome in which she is untouchable to the rest of the world. She stands hunched, as if she has aged fifty years in only a matter of weeks.

She does try though.

She brushes her hair each day, has a shower, and brushes her teeth. Appearance is all that matters now. She's always been rather pretty, not outstandingly gorgeous, but her tangles of blonde hair that spun around her round face and took the majority of her appearance and swallowed it whole. Her eyes could be a little sparkly in the right lighting, and she was in proportion, roughly.

She had no idea how anyone, especially Sirius, could've mistaken that for supermodel attractive.

Though - due to her lack of appetite, due to the account of misery being her three meals each day- she was hollowing out, starting with a concave stomach then slowly growing and spreading like a cancer to other parts of her body. She wore more and more layers of clothing to disguise this, though.

For instance, she was wearing at that moment, three tank tops and a thermal top under her school uniform to blend in.

The trick was to keep busy.

Keep busy and you'll make it through eventually.

"I've had enough of dinner. I'm going to go to bed." Mary said to Lily as she got up, leaving a barely touched plate.

The halls were so much quieter at night.

She needed to sleep. Sleep right now would be bliss.

"CRU- " said a voice from the dark. Mary couldn't recognise it and it had a gritty and somehow slimy ring to it.

Mary, almost instinctively, dragged out her wand and turned around to find the owner of the voice. "Percificus Totalus!"

She missed due to her shaking hand. Seeing it as her only chance to escape, she began to run.

"Stupefy!" he shouted.

Mary was thrown to the ground just as she was about to run up the flight of stairs. Her head knocked against the corner of the stair case as if she had lost complete control of her body for a moment. Reflexively, she dashed her palm to the site of the collision to assess the damage, she couldn't feel anything yet. That should be a good sign.

"Help!" she croaked in a strained voice. "HELP!"

The boy was hooded, and was virtually unrecognisable due to the cloak and mask he wore.

The figure raised his arm, his posture boastful and his cloak licking at his heels like flames.

He was ready to strike


	2. Pomfrey And The Much Needed Saftey

Chapter Two

"Pomfrey And The Much Needed Safety"

RESCUE MISSION

If there is one thing a Gryffindor can be relied upon, it's his or her ability to be brave in the face of the unknown. Some think of this act as idiocy. However, when you can thank a Gryffindor for your own life due to an act of this sort of idiocy your opinion is likely to change.

That's rather like the case of Mary MacDonald, though she only thought James Potter and Sirius Black were Gryffindor idiots and not Gryffindor as a whole, considering she was one herself. Rather good at school work, James and Sirius were, but so blatantly arrogant that it hurt.

So, naturally, once James and Sirius heard a cry for help coming from the neighbouring corridor they ran. They ran so fast both could hear their own heartbeat drumming like a rabbit in their ears. Armed with their wands they had drawn out moments after they heard the screams and in unison with their sprint to the damsel in distress, they had almost formed some sort of battle cry. Almost.

"HANG ON!" Sirius yelled, his breathing shallow and raspy from the running.

"SIRIUS?" Mary called back, if James or Sirius could have seen her at the point, they would have seen Mary thrown back onto the cold stone floor with a wand pointed to her face. With her eyebrows raised in confusion from the surprise of hearing Sirius's voice.

"MARY?" Sirius replied, equally confused.

Sliding from the lack of friction on the soles of their shoes, James and Sirius landed into the scene. Mary, who was trying to grope around for her strewn wand on the ground whilst keeping an eye on her attacker, caught sight of James and Sirius. There could have been tears in her eyes, but Mary would never have admitted to actually succumbing to crying to Sirius.

The attacker, catching a glimpse at what Mary had seen, fled the scene.

"Come back and fight you bastard!" James shouted to the every growing smaller silhouette.

"Don't bring him back!" Mary said in a hoarse voice.

"Accio moron! Accio… scum!" James said, pointing his wand at where the attacker was thought to be.

"Check the Map, James." Sirius said rather bluntly.

"Where are we?" James began unfolding the Map and muttering to himself under the charmed wand-light.

"Third floor," Mary supplied.

"You're freaking kidding me. Are you sure we're not on the fourth or second of eighteenth?" Sirius asked.

"There isn't an eighteenth floor. And of course I'm sure, over there's McGonagall's office." Mary rolled her eyes; trust Mary to be trying to act cool through something like this.

"Because being on a different floor would be too convenient," Sirius muttered darkly. "I'm assuming McGonagall doesn't happen to be in her office conveniently either?"

"Doubt it. She'll be at the Welcoming Feast still. And she would've heard the racket I made." Mary said, double checking her body for any damage.

" See anything James?"

"Nothing,"

"Are you sure?"

"Well, it's a bit hard in between the Map flashing pink and green at me and it being upside down."

"What's that you're holding?" Mary asked, trying to sit up.

"Map of the school…. Sort of." Sirius explained. "We made it last year, Peter sat on it and now it's buggered."

"Seriously?" Mary asked.

"Well, yeah." Sirius said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm freezing."

"God dammit!" James huffed, interjecting. "Get back you scum!"

"It's not cold."

"Yes it is." Mary protested. "Well at least I am."

"It's not, we better get you to Promfrey." Sirius decided. "Did he do anything to you?"

"Stunned me, I think. I can't really remember. He was trying to do Unforgiveables… I think." Mary muttered, and frustrated that she could barely remember something that had only happened minutes before.

"James?" Sirius asked.

James was so focused on the Map that he jumped –quite literally- when Sirius talked to him.

"He's gone," James sighed. "that bastard."

"We need to take Mary to Madam Pomfrey." Sirius said.

"Right," James nodded. "can you walk?"

"What kind of question is that?" Mary snapped.

"The sort that you're meant to answer,"

"I'm not a cripple, of course I can walk." Mary stood.

"You look a little shaky on your feet," Sirius muttered.

"I swear I'm fi-" Mary stopped protesting, no doubt because Sirius had just put his arm around her waist to prevent her from falling. "Thanks."

Mary's cheeks flushed a vivid red under her freckles. Several short shot of electricity buzzed around in the pit of her stomach.

"Anytime,"

Then the trio walked away to the Hospital Wing, with Mary sandwiched between James and Sirius.

APOLOGIES

It was only when Mary told Lily that she was heading up to bed that Lily realised she only really had one friend. She realised this after Mary left and she suddenly felt too exposed for her own liking and she barely knew anything about the people she had lived and gone to school with for the past five years.

"Hello." said a sheepish voice from behind Lily.

Lily recognised its owner instantly. "Go away, Snape."

Severus sat down in the vacant seat that Mary had filled moments previously. "No. I refuse to."

"I've got nothing to say to you,"

"Well I've got plenty." Severus said, tucking a few oily stands of hair away from his face.

"Not interested."

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry, Lily."

"I don't believe you in the slightest." Lily gritted her teeth.

"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you-"

"Liar."

"Please?"

"Go be with Mulciber,"

"As if I care about him! I lo- that doesn't matter." Severus said.

"I couldn't ever be friends with you when you're doing all that dark stuff with those Slytherin's. Above that, I could never ever be friends with you again after you called me a You-Know-What."

"I'll never give up on you!"

"Don't waste your breath." Lily got up from her seat and briskly walked out of the Great Hall, into the quiet spaces where her head was fuming and swimming with thoughts of her only best friend.

She was tense, she was angry and she was upset. She was trying to convince herself that she didn't care about him at all. She tried to hate him. Though, considering she was fighting back sour tears as she fled from the Great Hall, Severus Snape still had some sort of effect over her.

She couldn't even call her cat by his own name without thinking of him.

Figuring that the best part of the day was over and that she should just head to her warm four poster bed as soon as possible, she headed up the dozens of flights of stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

She was almost literally fuming as she walked briskly up a few flights of stairs.

That was, until she came across Mary, James and Sirius.

The trio stopped her in her tracks along with whatever she was thinking about beforehand. Severus didn't matter to her as much as Mary did.

Mary's face was drained of any sort of colour, with her damp locks weaved into a mess at the nape of her neck. She was barely able to walk, but with each of her arms draped over Sirius and James's shoulders she was managing. She appeared to have aged ten years. She looked hollow, like a wax figure that someone had tried to craft only for it to go terribly wrong somewhere along the line. Her skin looked stretched across her face and almost completely translucent, with her freckles looking now black in comparison. Her eyes were distant, as if nothing going on before her eyes could interest her or was of any great importance. She was buckled over, but Sirius had seemed to have taken on the role of Mary's legs to prevent her from falling into a heap on the floor.

"Potter!" Lily strode up to them. "What the hell happened?" She snapped.

"Mary was attacked." James said, adjusting Mary so she didn't topple to the ground.

"You better hope you aren't responsible." Lily warned. "Otherwise your life won't be worth living."

"Why would I even do something like tha- never mind that." James shook his head.

"Where're you taking her?" Lily asked. "What're you doing with her?"

"Madam Promfrey." said Mary, looking up at Lily.

"Right." Lily registered that. "Need a hand?"

"Not particularly." Sirius said.

"Well, that's just too bad. Because either way I am not leaving Mary with you two."

And thus, three then became four.

MENDING

There was quite a commotion when they got to the Hospital Wing at last. You could even call it a wave of mass hysteria, if you so desire. A great chunk of this hysteria was coming from Madam Pomfrey herself, though she was mostly stunned when she first saw four teenagers walk into her hospital, one of whom wasn't even capable of walking independently.

Madam Pomfrey immediately stopped treating a Hufflepuff with his left leg bandaged and skited to Lily, James, Sirius and Mary.

"What's this?" Madam Pomfrey asked, scanning the teenagers as if this will make them cough up an explanation.

"Mary was attacked." Sirius said in a tone that suggested he could have been talking about anything but something as dark as that.

Madam Pomfrey went very pale. "Oh Merlin. Are you hurt? What happened?"

Mary shook her head.

"Well, you certainly don't look it. Come with me and I'll get you something to help with the- you three, go fetch Professor Dumbledore. And don't you dare go alone, who knows if the culprit is around or not. Be quick!"

Sirius, James and Lily quickly left the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand muttering a few strands of words that Mary didn't catch- over Mary.

"Am I dying?" joked Mary, a smile creeping onto her face.

"You're far from that dear, it's just shock. You'll probably have some bruises, but I'll just do one thing at a time." Madam Pomfrey was now flapping about, running into the store cupboard to get extra blankets, only to groan at her own foolishness and then ducking back into the cupboard to get what appeared to be a flask of hot chocolate.

She wrapped Mary in the several woollen blankets she had dug out. She looked like a little blonde porcelain doll the way she was laying there, completely motionless.

She was dead quiet now, however that was not the case in her own head.

Though there were dozens of thoughts being collected simultaneously, they all satellited around the one phrase: Why aren't I safe here anymore?

SAFETY

"Should we take that secret route?" mouthed Sirius.

"Around Evans?" mimed James, pointing to Lily who was walking an easy ten paces ahead of the two boys.

Sirius nodded in agreement and shrugged slightly.

With every few moments passed, Lily became evermore agitated and edgy than she was before.

When they finally got to the entrance of Dumbledore's office, she was shaking slightly.

"Let us in!" Lily demanded to the carved gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. "For God's sake, just let us in!"

"Password?" replied the gargoyle, indifferent to Lily's protests.

"Carnival," James said, rolling his eyes. "honestly."

"Very good." said the gargoyle. "You should listen to him more often, missy."

"Oh shut up." Lily muttered under her breath as she raced ahead of James and Sirius to get up the small flight of stairs.

"Miss Evans," Dumbledore sounded surprised. "and Mr Black and Mr Potter."

"Professor!" Lily was gasping for breath. "Madam Pomfrey wants you to come to the Hospital Wing right now! Mary's been attacked!"

"How long ago did this happen?" Dumbledore asked calmly, a complete opposite to Lily's panic.

Lily turned to James. After all, she had no idea when this happened.

"Twenty minutes?" James guessed, scratching his head.

"Since we found her." Sirius added. "I'd say half an hour tops."

"Very good." Dumbledore nodded and headed out the door.

Lily finally exhaled after what seemed to be a millennia. Dumbledore was here and now everything would be fine. Hopefully.

The four followed Dumbledore, whose purple robes were highlighted by the torchlight and his heels clicking away as he waltzed with ease to the Hospital Wing.

"Do you know what happened?" Dumbledore asked.

"Not really," Lily admitted. "James?"

"Me and Padfoo- Sirius got to Mary after we heard some screaming. We got there and the guy ran off." James frowned.

"James tried to find him. Mary was pretty shaken up about it, so we took her to Madam Pomfrey." Sirius scratched his head as he racked his brains to remember more.

But what was there to say? Should he of mentioned how terrified Mary looked when he found her? How she looked so limp when she saw the attacked run off? Should he mention how she was barely able to form words? How her normally voluminous hair fell raggedly on her sweat dampened face and stuck to it like a bad smell to a pair of old sneakers?

Or should he even of mentioned how he never took his eyes off her until he was told to get Dumbledore? How he wanted to make her smile again?

No, he probably should not have mentioned that. Not at all.

No good would have come from it anyway.

"Well, you did the right thing." Dumbledore congratulated, making Sirius and James smile briefly.

"Thanks, Sir."

"Now what about poor Mary?" Dumbledore thought aloud, casting his eyes over the girl who lay almost encased in crocheted blankets. Donations made to the school, no doubt.

"It's just shock, Professor." Madam Pomfrey said. "She's pretty shaken over the incident. I best keep her here for the night, there's no point waking her now that's she's comfortable and asleep."

"Right you are, Poppy."

"Will you find the person responsible?" Lily asked.

"We can try." Dumbledore promised. "Now, you three better get up to bed. It is late after all. Must not be exhausted for the first day of classes tomorrow, I remember when Elena Wilson decided that she could take an Awakening Potion in order to never sleep again…" He chuckled.

They all nodded. Sirius, before beginning to walk about the door, brushed a few locks of Mary's flaxen hair away from her eyes.

"She hates it when it's in her peripheral vision." Sirius murmured, mostly to himself before joining James and Lily.

The three walked sombrely towards the Gryffindor Common Room, almost in a sort of slightly unsynchronized funeral march.

"James?" Lily asked, her voice a few notes higher than it usually was.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know what the password to Dumbledore's office was?"

"The amount of times Sirius and I've been sent there by a screeching McGonagall." James reminisced fondly. "It's second nature, like blinking."

"Blinking is an instinct. We can't help it." Lily said smugly, skipping every other step.

"Don't bicker with me Evans, I'm tired. I want sleep." James grumbled.

"I second that," Sirius chimed.

"It's only nine." Lily said.

"Well we've been up for almost twenty four hours, mind you." Sirius replied.

"What the hell were you doing that for?" Lily almost laughed. "Wait, don't tell me, I probably don't want to know."

"We had errands to run," James grinned, knowing it would only agitate Lily further.

"What errands?" Lily groaned.

Sleep sounded pretty darn fantastic right now to Sirius, James and Lily.


End file.
